Prominent Political Philosophies/Ideologies

• The Ideological Scale: Liberal/Conservative (Left/Right)

Governmental Economic InterventionHighLow

SocialistsConservatives

High

Low

Governm

ent Action on Social/M

orality

LiberalsLibertarians

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The Declaration of IndependenceInternational “Dear John” Letter

INTRO: “Dear King George, we should talk…”

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen

united States of America“When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”

The Declaration of IndependenceInternational “Dear John” Letter

“It’s just that we have certain needs…”

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

You GO, girl!!

The Declaration of IndependenceInternational “Dear John” Letter

“Now, we’ve thought about this for some time…”

“Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.”

“But we’re just not going to take it anymore…”“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object

evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.”

The Declaration of IndependenceInternational “Dear John” Letter

“Here are ALL the ways you’ve done us wrong…”

“The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

--He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

--He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

--He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

--He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

--He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

--He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

--He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.”

--“He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.--He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.--He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.--He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.--He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.--He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:--For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:--For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:--For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:--For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:--For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:--For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:--For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies--For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:--For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.--He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.--He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.--He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.--He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.--He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.”

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Upper LevelGovernmentUpper LevelGovernment

Lower LevelGovernmentLower LevelGovernment

Lower LevelGovernmentLower LevelGovernment

Upper LevelGovernmentUpper LevelGovernment

Unitary Confederal

Authority Authority

UNITARY VS. CONFEDERAL GOVERNMENT *

Annapolis Resolution

• “In this persuasion, your Commissioners submit an opinion, that the Idea of extending the powers of their Deputies, to other objects, than those of Commerce. . will deserve to be incorporated into that of a future Convention; they are the more naturally led to this conclusion, as in the course of their reflections on the subject, they have been induced to think, that the power of regulating trade is of such comprehensive extent, and will enter so far into the general System of the federal government, that to give it efficacy, and to obviate questions and doubts concerning its precise nature and limits, may require a correspondent adjustment of other parts of the Federal System. . .”

• “That there are important defects in the system of the Federal Government is acknowledged by the Acts of all those States. . . In the choice of the mode, your Commissioners are of opinion, that a Convention of Deputies from the different States, for the special and sole purpose of entering into this investigation, and digesting a plan for supplying such defects as may be discovered to exist. . .”

ReturnSeptember, 1786

Congress

Representation in Congress

Decision Rule

Executive

Removal of Executive

Courts

Ratification

State Laws

Virginia Plan New Jersey Plan Constitution

Two houses (bicameral)

Both houses based on population

Simple Majority

Single, elected by congress

By Congress

National Judiciary, elected by Congress

By the people

Congress can override

One house (unicameral)

Equal representation for each state

Extraordinary majority

More than one person

By a majority of the states

Judiciary appointed by executive

By the states

“National supremacy”

Two houses

House/population, Senate/states

Concurrent majority

Single, elected by electoral college

By Congress

President nominates Senate confirms

By state conventions

National supremacy

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Article I. Section 2. Paragraph 3.Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons... and... three fifths of all other Persons.

Changed by the 14th Amendment, section 2.

3/5ths Compromise *

Congress’ vs. President’s Powers *

Article I. Section 1. All legislative Powers herein granted shall be

vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

Article II. Section 1. The executive Power shall be vested in a

President of the United States of America.(emphasis added)

FEDERALIST 51

• Problem: We need government to protect us from a “state of nature”– The problem IS human nature!

• Quandary: Government can abuse its subjects, too.– Need a government that controls the people

(SECURITY/ORDER), but also controls itself (LIBERTY)

James Madison, Mr. Bargen’s man-crush

A (partial) solution• How can we control governmental power?

– “In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments, and then the portion allotted to each subdivided among distinct and separate departments. Hence a double security arises to the rights of the people. The different governments will control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself.”

Why just separating the powers is not enough. . .

• What if the president could persuade Congress not to use its checks against him/her? Why wouldn’t the president try to concentrate his/her power? What would stop him/her?

• The solution IS human nature!

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Human Nature

“It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.”

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Building a Better Governmental Mousetrap

“In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”

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The Compound Republic

GOVERNMENTAL POWER

Legislative Executive Judicial

Legislative Executive Judicial

Checks & Balances

Separation of Powers

Federalism

ReturnReturn2

Separation of Powers

“In order to lay a due foundation for that separate and distinct exercise of the different powers of government, which to a certain extent is admitted on all hands to be essential to the preservation of liberty, it is evident that each department should have a will of its own; and consequently should be so constituted that the members of each should have as little agency as possible in the appointment of the members of the others.”

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Human frailty is the key to good governance. . .

• “But the great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department, consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachments of the others.”

• “The provision for defense must in this, as in all other cases, be made commensurate to the danger of attack. Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place.”

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Checks and Balances• “In republican government, the legislative authority

necessarily predominates.”– “The remedy for this inconveniency is to divide the legislature into

different branches; and to render them, by different modes of election and different principles of action, as little connected with each other as the nature of their common functions and their common dependence on the society will admit.”

• As the weight of the legislative authority requires that it should be thus divided, the weakness of the executive may require, on the other hand, that it should be fortified.”

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Classical Liberalism inthe Declaration of Independence

“… We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…” Return

Pluralism—a product of republicanism

Group 1 Group 2

Group 3 Group 4

Group 6Group 5

Group 7

Group 8

Group 9

We want help for

fisherman!

Rhode Island Pennsylvania

New York

New Jersey Massachusetts

Vermont

Georgia

North Carolina

South Carolina

We want help for oat

growers!

We want help for basket-makers!

We want help for dairy farmers! We want support

for merchants!

We want support for

cotton!

We want support for maple

producers!

We want support for

rice growers!

We want support for tobacco!

Hey, let’s tax southern

agricultural products!!

Like cotton, tobacco, and rice.

Great idea!

Cool!

Awesome! This idea rocks! Tax them back to the Stone Age!!

Horrible idea!

Uhhh, no.

This idea stinks!

Group 1 who? I don’t really know

anybody from Rhode Island. . .

Who?

What?Where?

Let’s eat some syrup. . .

Pluralism’s positive effects within the republic: Protecting Minorities

• From Federalist #51:“Whilst all authority in [the government] will be derived from and dependent on the society, the society itself will be broken into so many parts, interests, and classes of citizens, that the rights of individuals, or of the minority, will be in little danger from interested combinations of the majority.”

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INDIRECT ELECTION Return

* The 17th Amendment (1913) provided for direct election of senators, eliminating the states’ role in electing senators.

VOTERS

STATES

ELECTORALCOLLEGE

PRESIDENT

HOUSE OFREPRESENTATIVES

SENATE*

SUPREMECOURT

Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances Return

Separation of Powers: Establishes each branch of government and defines the powers of each.

Checks and Balances: Gives each branch the power to override the actions of the other branches

Legislature Executive Judicial

The Legislature can make laws

The Executive can enforce laws

The Judiciary can interpret laws

•Confirms executive appointments (Senate)

•Override executive veto

•Impeach executive and judicial officials

•Veto legislation

•Recommend legislation

•Grant pardons

•Refuse to enforce laws/judicial rulings

•Nominates judges

•Review legislative acts

•Review executive acts

•Issue injunctions

The Compound Republic

GOVERNMENTAL POWER

Legislative Executive Judicial

Legislative Executive Judicial

Checks & Balances

Separation of Powers

Federalism

ReturnReturn2

Federal

Upper LevelGovernmentUpper LevelGovernment

Lower LevelGovernmentLower LevelGovernment

Lower LevelGovernmentLower LevelGovernment

Upper LevelGovernmentUpper LevelGovernment

Unitary Confederal

Authority

Authority

UNITARY - CONFEDERAL - FEDERAL FORMS GOVERNMENT *

Upper LevelGovernmentUpper LevelGovernment

Lower LevelGovernmentLower LevelGovernment

Authority

CitizensCitizens CitizensCitizens CitizensCitizens

AuthorityAuthority

Authority

?

STATES’ RIGHTS DOCTRINE *

National GovernmentNational

Government

CitizensCitizens

State Government

State Government

“Interposition”

“Nullification”

14th AMENDMENT *

(Ratified in 1868)

Section 1. … No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States…

(emphasis added)

National GovernmentNational Government

State GovernmentState Government

No Interactions Between Layers

LAYER CAKE FEDERALISM *

National GovernmentNational Government

State GovernmentState Government

Multiple Interactions

MARBLE CAKE FEDERALISM *

Ye a r o f Ai d

19951990198019701960195019401932192219131902

Fe

de

ral

Aid

as

% o

f S

tate

/Lo

ca

l S

pe

nd

ing

30

20

10

0

Federal Aid to States and Localities *

PICKET FENCE FEDERALISM*

Civil Liberties Illustrated *

National GovernmentNational

Government

CitizensCitizens

Civil LibertiesCivil Liberties

Protects Liberties

Oppressive Actions

Civil Rights Illustrated *National

GovernmentNational

Government

CitizensCitizensCitizensCitizens

Protector ofIndividualRights

DiscriminatoryActions

Race and the Constitution(paraphrased) *

Article I. Section 2.: Slaves count as 3/5ths a person when determining state populations

Article I. Section 9.: Congress cannot prohibit the importation of slaves prior to 1808.

Article IV. Section 2.: Slaves who escape to states where slavery is illegal must be returned to their owners.

13th AMENDMENT *

(Ratified in 1865)Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary

servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Level of Knowledge *

MOST IMPORTANT NEWS SOURCE1959-1994

Year

1994

1992

1991

1990

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1982

1980

1978

1976

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1971

1968

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80

60

40

20

0

Television

Newspapers

Radio

MagazinesPe

rce

nt

Most

Im

po

rta

nt

Ne

ws

So

urc

e

*

IDEOLOGICAL SELF-IDENTIFICATION1973-1998

Year

1998

1994

1991

1989

1987

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1980

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1973

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Sel f-Identi fic a tion

Moderat e

Conservat ive/

Very Conservat ive

Liberal/

Very Liberal

Slight Liberal

Slight Conservat ive

*

Sources of Questionnaire Errors *

Paradox of Majority Rule *

Federalist No. 51 (excerpt):“In a society under the forms of which the stronger faction can readily unite and oppress the weaker, anarchy may as truly be said to reign, as in a state of nature where the weaker individual is not secured against the violence of the stronger.”

*Civil Liberties and Civil Rights in

Federalist Papers #51

“In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: You must first enable the government to control the governed {protect civil rights}; and in the next place, oblige it to control itself {protect civil liberties}.

Bill of RightsAmendment ICongress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. Amendment IIA well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed. Amendment IVThe right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Amendment VNo person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury. . . nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law

Bill of RightsAmendment VIIn all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense

Amendment XThe powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

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Percent of Governmental Spending by Level of Government 1927-1943

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0

10

20

30

40

50

60

1927 1929 1931 1933 1935 1937 1939 1941 1943

Federal

State

Local

The “necessary and proper” clause

Article I, Section 8: “To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.”

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Amendment X

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.” Return

Logical problem: Implied Powers vs. Reserved Powers

All possible Governmental Power, at every level of government

Enumerated Powers of the national government

Enumerated Powers of the national government

Enumerated Powers of the national government

Reserved Powers of the States Amendment X

Implied powers of the national government, from the “necessary and proper” clause

Friction!!

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The Supremacy Clause

Article VI, Section 2: "This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, any thing in the Constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding." Return

McCulloch v. Maryland

• “Let the end be legitimate, let it be within the scope of the Constitution, and all means which are appropriate, which are plainly adapted to that end, which are not prohibited, but consistent with the letter and spirit of the Constitution, are constitutional.” Return

The Commerce Clause

• Article I, Section 8: “The Congress shall have the power to regulate commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes.”

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Growth in Federal Spending—Fiscal Federalism Return

Federal $ as a % of State and Local Budget

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

1902 1913 1922 1932 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2002

“New Deal” Spending

“Great Society” Spending

Growth in Federal Spending 2—Devolution Return

Federal $ as a % of State and Local Budget

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

1902 1913 1922 1932 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2002

“New Deal” Spending

“Great Society” Spending

Period of “Devolution”